The present disclosure relates generally to display monitoring, and more particularly to monitoring program content to be output from a monitored display.
Television and other audio visual devices provide users with access to a variety of programs and information. Various controls have been developed to prevent certain viewers from viewing certain content. For example, the V-chip prevents the viewing of certain programs depending on the rating assigned to the program. A parent or supervisor can prevent a display from outputting certain content by designating an allowable upper rating limit. However, this causes the parent or supervisor to block or allow program content based on ratings that are determined by someone else. Thus, unless the parent's views concerning appropriate material are the same as the entity rating the programs, a viewer may be exposed to programs that the parent or supervisor would not typically allow. In addition, not all information is rated and some objectionable or inappropriate content may not be blocked by methods which rely on ratings alone.
A parent and child may watch programs together allowing the parent to change the channel or otherwise prevent the child from seeing some objectionable content. However, blocking content as it is being viewed may be too late as the content may have already affected the viewer. For example, blocking a movie after the child has viewed sexual or violent content is too late.